LOS ANGELES – The man who touched off a wild brawl at the Vibe Music Awards last year told cops that rap icon Marion “Suge” Knight paid him to sucker-punch Dr. Dre in a bid to embarrass the famous producer, sources told The Post yesterday.

Jimmy James Johnson, a 26-year-old parolee who is facing a life sentence because he’s a possible three-strike offender, has told Santa Monica, Calif., police that Knight gave him $5,000 and agreed to forgive a brother’s financial debt in exchange for the punch.

Shortly after hitting Dr. Dre, Johnson himself was stabbed – allegedly by David Darnell Brown, an up-and-coming rap artist known as Young Buck. Brown, 23, pleaded not guilty yesterday in L.A. County Superior Court to assault with a deadly weapon.

Johnson’s defense lawyer Milton Grimes and Deputy DA Hamid Towfigh both declined comment – although Grimes suggested his client has a reasonable excuse for his role in the Nov. 15 melee.

“We will have that explanation [for the punch] in court,” Grimes said. Johnson is still recovering from a collapsed lung, Grimes added.

Johnson’s potential motive for punching Dr. Dre will probably be of no help to his accused stabber Brown, who Santa Monica cops claim was videotaped in the act. Brown’s New York-based defense lawyer Scott Leemon declined to discuss the case yesterday outside court, but has previously said “pictures may be deceiving.”

Young Buck, a rapper affiliated with 50 Cent’s G-Unit and a Dre protégé, remains free on $500,000 bail, while Johnson is behind bars in lieu of a $1.4 million bond.

Knight, a ruthless businessman who has been in and out of prison, and Dr. Dre co-founded Death Row Records in 1992. But they’ve been bitter rivals ever since Dr. Dre left Death Row and became a producing legend on his own.

Johnson has told cops he attended the Vibe Awards with Knight’s entourage, and that Knight was set on embarrassing Dr. Dre on his big night, sources said. The sucker punch came moments before Dr. Dre was set to be honored with a Vibe lifetime-achievement award.